Major stock market indexes gained momentum Tuesday afternoon, following Fed Chair Jerome Powell's comments at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. He didn't stray too far from comments at last week's FOMC meeting.
Powell reiterated that ongoing rate increases will be appropriate, and will go into 2024 to get close to the 2% inflation target.
He said bringing the inflation rate down to 2% "is likely to take quite a bit of time. It's not going to be, we don't think, smooth. It's probably going to be bumpy."
"We're going to react to the data," he said. "So if we continue to get, for example, strong labor-market reports or higher inflation reports, it may well be the case that we have to do more and raise rates more than has been priced in."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.8% and the S&P 500 rose 1.3% on the news. The Nasdaq composite increased 1.9% while the small-cap Russell 2000 lagged the blue chips, edging up 0.7%.
Volume on the NYSE and Nasdaq was higher compared to the same time on Monday.
The Dow held above its 50-day and 21-day exponential moving averages, while the S&P 500 traded above its 21-day line. The Nasdaq found support at its 200-day moving average. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100-tracking Invesco QQQ Trust ETF popped 2.1%.
Crude oil gained 4.3% to $77.32 per barrel. The Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF added 3.3%.
Bitcoin futures inched up 1% to $23,330. The Innovator IBD 50 ETF was in line with the major stock market indexes, adding 1.7%.
The 10-year U.S. treasury yield rose 2 basis points to 3.67%.
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Stock Market Movers: Oil Stock Pops On Earnings
Oil and gas giant BP rallied 8.4% in heavy volume after reporting mixed Q4 results. The stock rose to the high end of a 5% buy zone after clearing a flat base with 36.21 buy point.
WillScot Mobile Mini rose 3.6% and broke out of a flat base hitting the 49.12 buy point, and is in the 5% buy zone reaching 51.58. WSC was Tuesday's IBD Stock Of The Day.
Microsoft gapped up 4.2% on news it's building in its artificial intelligence (AI) ChatGPT into its Bing search engine, to rival behemoth Google's search platform. MSFT led the Dow today.
Google parent company Alphabet popped 4.6%, rising above its 200-day moving average.
Boeing rose 3.8% after announcing it will cut about 2,000 human resources and finance jobs. The airline stock reclaimed its 21-day exponential moving average.
Skyworks gapped up 12.5% in heavy volume, despite a lukewarm earnings report. Investors seems to focus instead on a $2 billion stock buyback. The semiconductor chipmaker posted its largest gain since April 2020, and was today's S&P 500 biggest gainer.
Take Two Interactive jumped 7.9% in heavy volume, despite reporting a miss on fiscal Q3 2023 EPS and sales, but said they are implementing a cost-cutting plan expected to save $50 million annually.
Interactive video game developer Activision Blizzard gained 5.3% in heavy volume, after reporting better-than-expected Q4 EPS and sales numbers. The stock found support at its 21-day line.
Drug and vaccine maker Catalent climbed 6.8% in heavy volume, after reporting better-than-expected fiscal Q2 2023 sales and missed EPS, and reiterated its full year 2023 revenue guidance.
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